James Bernard, Lee, FL, wins TrophyCatch Season 9 Phoenix bass boat
Lake Wales, Florida - The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s TrophyCatch program awarded the Season 9 Phoenix bass boat package to angler James Bernard from Lee, Florida on Saturday, Dec. 4, at the Bobby Lane Cup youth tournament, held at Camp Mack in Lake Wales, Florida. The Phoenix boat package is a brand-new Phoenix 819 boat powered by a Mercury ProXS 200 guided by Lowrance electronics, a trolling motor, and anchored by Power-Pole. James’ response to learning he'd won? “This is better than super, spectacular and awesome," he exclaimed!
Orther finalist prizes included Mercury visors, Phoenix hats, Lure Lock storage boxes, $50 Bass Pro Shops Gift Cards, and other items.
Five drawing finalists were randomly selected from thousands of TrophyCatch registrants to drop their names into a bucket for a “reverse drawing.” The last remaining name drawn from the bucket revealed Bernard to be the winner of the Phoenix boat package. Although participating in TrophyCatch by documenting and submitting a trophy bass increases the chances of winning, anglers need only to register for the program to be automatically included in the boat drawing, which happens to be the case with Bernard, who avidly participates in fishing tournaments, but had not yet submitted a bass to the program.
“This event is a great way to cap off a record-setting Season 9 for TrophyCatch, and a fantastic reward for one of our many TrophyCatch citizen-scientists,” said Tom Graef, Director of the Division of Freshwater Fisheries. “This program provides trophy bass data that is guiding our research and helping identify Florida’s premier bass waters.”
The TrophyCatch program rewards anglers who provide documentation of their catch and release of largemouth bass weighing 8 pounds or heavier in Florida. To be eligible for prizes, anglers are required to submit photos or videos of their catch to TrophyCatch.com, showing the entire fish and its weight on a scale, before releasing it back into the water. FWC biologists use TrophyCatch data for bass research to make informed decisions about the management of Florida bass fisheries and to promote the catch and release of trophy bass. The associated TrophyCare program promotes best handling practices for trophy bass to ensure that each TrophyCatch bass is released alive. For more information about the TrophyCatch program, email K.P. Clements at KP.Clements@MyFWC.com.